Jacob Zuma and the Great Arms Deal Scandal

It appears that the concept of conflict of interest is one that is frequently ignored in South African politics. Examples such as allowing the previous finance minister, Trevor Manuel, to remain in his position whilst being involved with Maria Ramos, the CEO of one of the largest banks in South Africa are plentiful. The most recent of these involves president Jacob Zuma and the resurrected arms deal scandal.

Last week, the presidency declared that Jacob Zuma will be appointing a commission of inquiry to investigate allegations of dodgy dealings in a decade-old arms deal. Formally known as the Strategic Defence Procurement Packages, the arms deal was basically a R30 Billion deal to buy European military equipment. Clearly this made perfect sense 10 years ago because of the then impending threat that Swaziland would invade South Africa with a hostile submarine attack.

The arms deal led to the convictions of a few officials for bribery a couple of years back. Then-deputy president Jacob Zuma himself was implicated through his financial advisor Schabir Shaik, but was not convicted. All charges against Zuma were miraculously dropped in 2009 before he ascended to his current position.

Now Mr Zuma may be completely innocent – make no mistake about that. The issue that Wonkie has however, revolves around conflict of interest. How does it support South Africa’s cause to stamp out corruption when its very institutions are creating formidable mechanisms to hide, or even worse, entrench it? Even an idiot can see that it would be foolish to allow a man that may be implicated in a crime to select his own jury. It’s just a pity that South Africa has a dire lack of such idiots.

As an added example, consider the Protection of Information Bill, hereafter known as the Government Corruption Enablement Bill. Without a public interest clause in such legislation, the government essentially has carte blanche to hide whatever it chooses to.

The strongest enemies of corruption are transparency and good governance, both of which appear to be rapidly disintegrating in South Africa rather than taking shape.

This arms deal probe is like asking the fox to guard the chickens in the hen house. Our biggest problem in this country is that most intelligent and hardworking people have no trust in our government any more and view every politician as inherently dishonest. This either annoys them or makes them very happy depending on which side of the divide you are. The majority of the voting public do not have the benefit of having time and opportunity to analyse what is going on. They are too busy just trying to survive and have to just take what they can get. The government is lucky that most of its citizens are in this position but it will not last forever.

It goes without say that the government was waiting for the appointments of the new constitutional judge to take the reigns, after which Justice refused the extended term in what I may view as not wanting to be involved in this new saga which the President want to open and to acquit the President of any wrong doing when it comes to the Arms Deal. The Commision will be biased to the appointee, and the “New Access to Informastion Bill” will also evade bringing the information for the prosecution of those who may be implicated.

I think Zuma is guilty as charged. The inquiry that will be conducted is there just to hide the truth more and more. Let Juju have his say and see what will happen. The government musts’t take us as fools.

The problem that South Africa has heads back to apartheid days where the authority exercises absolute powers to change the law to whatever fits him. It’s high time that not only should the authority do what he wants, but also South African citizens should not submit to such authority. For instance, the Malema case is supported by unruly youth who support him even if he is not correct. This behavour could also spill to Zuma supporters if and when he could be found Quilty. The Judiciary, with all its wisdom, decided to satisfy the majority by not finding him guilty. This effort paved the way to incorrecet decision making by both the authority and the judiciary. Everytime some one has to be judged by courts a multitude of people gather outside the court building to influence the judges to decide in a way that will not harm peace and harmony and the majority.

Had this secrets bill been passed no doubt any person referring to arms deal? corruption etc would be imprsoned has the goverment taken into account that we would have to build more prisons to hold all the people . Maybe this was one of their plans to find jobs for the unemployed

It’s enough now. This bull***t needs to end. It’s about the money.
I propose that we identify the banks that deal with government and boycott them, starting with ABSA. Stop paying rates. Financial Civil Disobedience.
A new struggle – the revolt of the patriots and taxpayers.

Ja Well No Fine, I have come to the conclusion that all these politicians are hiding behind each other and if one of them start squawking then its tickets for all of them…they all have something on each other…..Take Shabby Shakes….has not served a day in jail…I wonder why….Does the Zuma umbrella keep him safe……And all the others for that matter.

Love it “just avoid it and it goes away” – yes that’s JZ would love to happen. Or is he opening the case to get himself a little more favour for nexts years polls in the ANC. Its all just a smoke screen. A waste of money
@ Notaround – I also think so
@ whatagain – true lets hope that it wont last foever
I agree Tanni, Collitjies and Shasha.

It is doubtful that Zuma is innocent of ALL of the 783 allegations of fraud and corruption. He spent years trying to avoid appearing in court to prove his innocence so undoubtedly he has something to hide. The ridiculous thing about this enquiry is that Zuma, who is probably deeply involved, as is his beloved ANC, gets to decide on the terms and conditions of the enquiry. He even has the choice as to whether the findings will be released to the public or not and with the up and coming secrecy info bill almost in place, he can easily use secrecy as a lever. Zuma holds all the cards. He has been very very clever because if the arms deal enquiry had proceeded to the constitutional court, Zuma would have been instructed on how the enquiry was to be conducted by the court. Zuma is a survivor. What is the betting also that he will grant an amnesty and pardon to all those found to be crooked in the arms deal so that they and the ANC itself can hold on to their ill gotten gains of millions of rands.

Are there any honest politicians left in South Africa? Every day there are more and more revelations of politicians looting of billions of rands of taxpayers money. During the apartheid years the ANC rightly called for ‘no taxation without political representation’. Now perhaps the same principle should apply. No taxation until the politicians stop plundering the state coffers. How else can they be stopped.

If we can be honest like we mostly proclaim our Christian belief we can then say the apartheid government also spent state money for arms that were used to kill and oppress the real South Africans and not the pale South Africans.

No – its all a smoke screen – the only reason JZ is doing this now
1) he knows that he will not be found guilty
2) its takes the new appointment of Judge Mogoeng Mogoeng out of the headlines
3) takes Melema out of the headlines

While I take note that things like arms deals and stuff are sometimes specified as state secrets, the two presidences seem to have enjoyed in the wrong side of the law and if Malema is let off the hook, people should take it simply as a sale of indulgences between him and Julius, a spit in my face and I break your nose situation

But it is true Frank Horn. You can say I am out of topic but the topic is about the arms deal, there has been many of those throughout the world. Whites used to destroy blacks and blacks bought them to protect everyone.

I would like to caution the public and media at large to refrain from putting the wagon before the span. It is not fair to jump to the conclusion that President Zuma is implicated in the arms deal. Most people conveniently forget that Zuma was the Finance MEC in the KZN Provincial Legislature when the arms deal was concluded. I’m waiting for the moment when President Zuma will be accorded the same amount of respect as other presidents are.

The Arms deal was constructed to enrich the black pearls who claim elite credentials because of tenuous links to some of the anti apartheid cadres or family. Now that it has been exposed as an absolute sham something has to be done. That something is to shut up all the whingers whiners and other critics by introducing secrecy laws, previous apartheid legislation to shut them all up. It is also to separate the rich from the poor much as the old regime separated black from white. Thereby creating class apartheid to prevent the new black elite from having to live near, go to school with, or otherwise putting up with the unclean. Shame on you JZ and your party.

You continualy seem to mis the point Mzu by bringing a racial conotation to the whole matter, remember an injustice here is an injustice everywhere, you cannot use apartheid ills to justfy the current scenario otherwise we may then say there hasn’nt been change ins’nt it?. Time to call a spade a spade

We should not forget the Apartheid mistakes afterall the perpetrators never accounted for them. So before we become too hard on the current fools we need to be hard on the previous fools too if we are sincere in building the shit rainbow nation.

The sad part about blaming apartheid is that the majority struggles are struggling to maintain the same previous standards. They have got brains, talent etc but just keeps it buried and stead of using it for the better.

Mzu my dear, refer to the trasitional period from Apartheid to the current system of things, the past was forgiven for civilisation sake and we are supposed to chart forward together as brothers and sisters, there should be no black or white at this stage, we canot drag the country backwards we are only ourselves to blame if things fall apart, C wat Mugabe did to Zimbabwe because of blaming his corruption on the past, I am black and proud of it and wen I C a person of different colour, have seen a fellow human being and will judge them by wat they are doing

Then I assume blacks should move on with nothing whilst whites stole everything during that era. All just for bullshit civilisation’s sake. That’s bullshit, you can take your civilisation to hell bloody reptiles and leave the arms deal to blacks we will sort it out without you.

C how it works dear Mzu, look at how our fellow blacks have suddenly become filthy rich through corruption on tenders and so forth, do you think you and I have to let them continue at the expense of the nation?, are u declaring total insanity for the sake of enriching a few individuals? remember the whites amased wealth in good and bad ways for a long time yes but are we saying blacks should do the same, something is terribly wrong here, if you are bennefiting from the current system I understand where yu are comming from and the use of vulgar words only depicts loss of power and control, panic and its uncouth to say the least

@ Frank Horn – “Are there any honest politicians left in South Africa?” The relatively short answer to your question is “NO” – ok there MIGHT be ONE – but s/he is hiding out somewhere in the back benches and wondering why s/he is so stupid to miss out on the other guys’ goodies. “HEY – how do I get some of the action?” “Yes, Mr Prez., I’ll run your enquiry and whitewash you”
@ Mzu Are you really serious? “…blacks bought them (armaments) to protect everyone” The actions of the criminal Apartheid regime with their unlawful actions against the masses because they were black cannot possibly be used as an excuse like the one you are giving. Your argument is wrong for at least two reasons:
1. You can not make a thing right by copying the wrong thing that was done before.
2. The “blacks” who “bought” the armaments did not do so to ‘protect everyone’ – they did it for the kick-backs.
No doubt other minds can give other reasons why your argument is wrong but these two will do for now.

On a lighter note

As to the submarine attack from Swaziland – how were they going to get the spare tyres for their submarines from Lesotho without South Africa’s “intelligence” service (Are you there Mzu?) wondering why they can’t get spare tyres for their radar sets.
In any case the submarines would all be blown up by the many mines we have in their path.

In time it will be history, infact it is history so let us forget about the arms deal just like we did with the apartheid scoundrels. Why is it hard to forget what blacks did when we easily are forgetting what the bloody whites did?

Every person in this country is tainted by apartheid and it has an enormous effect on our collective psyche. Our children and hopefully our grandchildren will cross the divide and build a better and more equitable South Africa. Time does heal but we will never forget.
We all had such high hopes for our new South Africa. We respected the moral high ground of the ANC and we looked to them to work towards healing and redressing the awful blight of apartheid. Please understand that the insistence of good governance, honesty, anti corruption and the unending ‘voices’ you do not want to hear are a heartfelt cry for our beloved country to be cared for and a place for all to prosper. We cannot heal the past unless we root out the corruption and maladministration of the present. It is like a cancer that is growing and growing and soon if all good men/women remain silent we will be back where we started.
We need to know the truth of what has and is happening so that we can all work together to stop the moral and ethical decline which is going to damage us all.
It is not a case of forgetting what whites did and only remembering what blacks do. It is a case of remembering and not repeating the mistakes of the past.
If you do not want to help us do that then you do not love this country and you do not want the future generations to live in peace and harmony.

South Africa needs honest men in leadership, people who can sacrifice themselves for the upliftment of living standards of all who live in SA. We cannot promote ill practices for the sake of individual greedy. Do you all guys know the economic impact of these, I wonder if Mzu does, there will be disinvestment in SA and we will simply slide to the dark days, the Zim situation or worse will be upon us, we are only a people together, black, white, coloured, Indian etc. The government coffers are a national cake which needs to be shared equaly and if those in authority have to understand this the better for the nation.

Finally Mzu is getting a little perspective. Yes Mzu there are “whites” and there are “bloody whites” and it good that you see the difference. There are also “blacks” and “bloody blacks”. What we must now do is get the “whites” and “blacks” together to fight the “bloody whites” and the “bloody blacks” at the same time. Yes there is corruption in all peoples – more in some than in others (but that is beside the point) – and we must root out ALL of the corruption. The Arms deal was one of the biggest corruption scandals in the country. There are others – like the shabby shakes story – like the “travelgate” scandal and many others and no-one says that they are all “black”. What we all want is honesty. Not that we are likely to get it when the inquiry is directed by one of the biggest suspects.

Mzu and others should perhaps learn a little about South African history.— Although apartheid was undoubtedly wrong,the previous apartheid regime was also undoubtedly far less corrupt than the present greedy ANC bunch of government ministers. In 1979 the then prime minister John Vorster was forced to resign due to his involvemernt in what ironically was called the Info scandal. Other ministers of the regime were also forced to resign ie one Connie Mulder, the father of the present FF plus- and at least one cabinet minister was jailed. The corruption involved the purchase of the Citizen newspaper with a ‘mere’ R16 of taxpayers money. Yes apartheid was wrong but so is the theft and wastage of billions and billions of taxpayers rands by this unaccountable ANC government under the wily rotund machine gun whining Zuma, while millions of South Africans live in abject poverty and are starving. This ANC government is a disgrace and an embarrassment to South Africa. They are looting the state coffers for personal gain and everybody in the world knows it. They must go before they ignite a revolution and allow a democratic decent accountable government to gain power.

@ Mzu – go and see your optometrist – you are having a lot of trouble seeing the difference between up-standing, law-abiding people and the opposite end of the spectrum – the ‘Do what you will shall be the whole of the law’ kind.
Maybe your optometrist will be able to cure your colour-blindness too!!!!!

Mzu, you are turning all debates on wonkie into a racist war. You harp on the past and want to create another apartheid stae run by rich blacks against poor blacks.. If all the whites left you would end up with Uganda, Rwanda, Somalia, Congo and a few other failed states that depend on foreign aid from guess who? Whites living in the US and Europe and you would probably die of Malaria, Aids, Malnutrition, take your pick.

“Peace without justice is hollow Garth”,Mzu, how can peace and justice be archieved if an adminstration that is supposed to oversee this is also unjust, then are we not talking of the same thing using different languages?. Dont we need a just adminstration made of man and woman whose hands are clean and free from corrupt practices
?

South Africans will rue the day that they allowed this man Zuma to cheat the justice system and become a president. He is an embarrassment to Africa on par with the evil Mugabe and the late Gaddafi. Ofcourse this crook is not going to allow the commission of enquiry to be free and fair. Its like the criminal on trial choosing his own judge and jury. It will be typical of people like Mzu and other South Africans to let this master criminal get away with it. By the way Mzu. Mugabe stole the land from the whites and this criminal ANC will one day do the same in South Africa. ZANUPF and this ANC are the biggest criminals that ever came to power in Africa. One day the people will realise that and will cast them to the rubbish dustbins of history where we all know they rightly belong. They are pure evil.

Well stealing land from whites in Africa….. hahahahahahahahahaahahahhahahahahahahaha…. Dukie 743 I never knew you were so crazy…hahahahahahahahahahahaahahahaha….. All the leaders above are 1000000 miles more better than the white evil governments and white civilians. You are the most evil race on planet earth. You are a curse to humanity.

Mzu, u deserve a masters degree in ability to deliver a cup of tea up side down, thats what you are doing exactly.You hate injustice, you enjoy to survey how many more pple are the same as you. I C u are just collecting facts for your bennefit.

I believe that if you study all the replies from Mzu it will be possible to note a trend from being just plain ignorant to being adeliberately evil and racist, maybe Mzu is actually two different people one of which is a bumbling fool and the other a mutant cross dresser.

Ethnic tensions and clashes is known in South Africa is known as xenophobia, a word from the ancient Greek meaning fear of strangers, we have changed its meaning to hatred of strangers. What then is a stranger, generally it is anyone we do not know but it is also people who are of different ethnicity. Now ethnicity is defining characteristic of who we are and is made up of a number of factors such as race, language, religion, origin, and many others. For instance a Zulu is someone who is black, speaks Zulu and has origins in Kwa-Zulu Natal and has Zulu parents. I South Africa we have a diversity of ethnic groups which the apartheid regime had as a cornerstone of their policies and which they never could fully control. Nevertheless ethnicity is alive and well in our country and always will be, in fact the diversity will increase into the future with increased mobility of our population. Therefore xenophobia or hatred of strangers is the same thing as racism. Therefor those who would wish to see South Africa free of whites, Indians, Jews, Muslims, and others are wasting their time, because even if they were all gone there would still be many ethnic groups and of course multi ethnic groups. There would still be Zulu, both urban and rural, Xhosa, Sotho, Khoisan, Tswana, Coloured there would still be people who speak, Zulu, Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Swazi and so on. So when the ignorant become insulting to different race groups they are actually besides demontrating extreme ignorance, they are also being unpatriotic.

Well all we can say is just wait and see, many will be more then surprised when the real changes occur. Slowly but surely they are starting to notice where all the money has gone, and those that currently stacking it in China and Malaysia may easily loose it all.

Garth, I urge you to stop worrying about Mzu’s stance for his vision is so blunted by a stack of ZAR infront of him such that he jus cant C beyond it. He is a well informed kind of a guy and is doing all this for his master, one of those puppets of black bourgeoisies, the kind of aparthy that has corroded our country from within.

bk true and is called hypnotic psychosis, they are the ones who suffers believing empty promises and is being exploited thinking they are going to be liberated but in fact will be discarded when after having used them for personal gain. Strange those in poverty areas with no service deliveries as promised is now in uprise and gets shot by the regime they voted for. That is what happens when those promises are not fulfilled but for the corrupt to become richer.

Demagogues and populists such as Hitler, Mussolini, Mugabe were all elected by the mob who were suffering from hypnotic psychosis as are the fools in the ANCYL. Eventually the worm turns, Mussolini was hanged by his former supporters Mugabe may go the same way. Fatboy has already changed his mind from wanting to kill for Zuma to wanting no doubt to kill Zuma.

Mzu. Our land will have no value when we cannot farm and our minerals will give us nothing if we allow nationalisation to bankrupt the mines and the state. Then maybe Mzu you can join the millions of African refugees who sell sunglasses on the European Rivieras. However while you are there ask the refugees and the descendants of the slaves to return to Africa and they will tell you to bugger off

This is surely a case where one of the accused [Zuma] chooses the conditions of the enquiry as well as the leading judge. This man is a wily slippery survivor and he would definitely have covered his back. He has only acted because he was about to be told to by the constitutional court. South Africans are not fooled by this machine gun whining alleged criminaL.

@ Dukie 743 – YOU are not fooled – most of us on this blog are not fooled – but, unfortunately, a huge number of South Africans (mostly of the Mzu type) ARE fooled. And that is the saddest part of it all.
Do not fall into the trap of thinking that your neighbour is as capable of seeing and thinking as you are – my own experience has proven otherwise.